Description
Book SynopsisLate antiquity was a perilous time for children, who were often the first victims of economic crisis, war, and disease. They had a one in three chance of dying before their first birthday, with as many as half dying before age ten. Christian writers accordingly sought to speak to the experience of bereavement and to provide cultural scripts for parents who had lost a child. These late ancient writers turned to characters like Eve and Sarah, Job and Jephthah as models for grieving and for confronting or submitting to the divine. Jephthah's Daughter, Sarah's Son traces the stories these writers crafted and the ways in which they shaped the lived experience of familial bereavement in ancient Christianity. A compelling social history that conveys the emotional lives of people in the late ancient world, Jephthah's Daughter, Sarah's Son is a powerful portrait of mourning that extends beyond antiquity to the present day.
Trade Review"Theologically astute yet ably interacting with gender theory and social history, this book will interest scholars of early Christianity and biblical interpretation." * CHOICE *
"This book is not only beautiful to hold and a pleasure to read, but also it has rare intellectual clarity and high scholarly relevance." * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
"A powerful study. . . . This is a book that belongs on the bookshelf of all who study . . . late antiquity." * Church History and Religious Culture *
"Doerfler’s outstanding merit is the use of a large and well-mastered corpus of sources. . . . This very well-written volume on the reception of selected biblical figures concerning the death of children will be worthwhile to students and experts in the fields of theology, religious sciences, classical literature, ancient history, Near Eastern studies, psychology, and social studies." * Reading Religion *
"Rich and engaging. . . .
Jephthah’s Daughter, Sarah’s Son offers profound material with which to think about liturgy and liturgical action." * Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
(Premature) Death as a Good: An Introduction
1. Children’s Deaths in Late Antiquity in Ritual and
Historical Perspective
2. East of Eden: The First Bereaved Parents
3. Mourning Sarah’s Son: Genesis 22 and the Death
of Children
4. Echoes of the Akedah: Jephthah’s Daughter and the
Maccabeans’ Mother
5. Death, Demons, and Disaster: Job’s Children
6. Children and the Sword: The Holy Innocents and the
Death of Children
Conclusion: Children in the Quicksand
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
